The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-02-01

that tn hain't nothin' wuss to come,
an th't he's ready to stan anything
th't is in th'futur' an come ont hunky,
less it mowt be q littlo rassel with a
family O. bars, or the unfortinit run
min agin n catty mount ez has been
dissyp'inted fer q week or so in gettin'
his grub regular, Consistently sech a
boy kin 'preciate the small passel o
facts I'm bout to give him, fer they'll
show him b'gosh how he kin be mis-
took bout hisself.
aye mowt or we mowtn't ha' heerd
me say lore now th't wen | were a
boy III want ez meny boys ez tn is
now, but whether yev heerd me or
not, such were the fact. Jedgin'
from wat I've see O. boys nawadays,
an specially durin' the past short
time, ! hain't Altered to say th't it'd
be better fer folks in ginnerl If the
fact we're jist vicy vercy. Mex to me,
proberly, the best boy th't lived in
our deestric, sixty years ago an bet
ter, were Ajax Thumply. Ajax want
only good but he were tough. Henev-
err went round the country askin' 9th
err boys if their gan'pops was ever
buried alive, an q bettin' the cider
th't they'd say they vas. He didn't
waste no time o dom that, but wat
did he do! He iist went an got buried
alive hisself, an Pm glad th't this
Bill Simmons has managed TO put me
in mind O. that leetle circumstance
in the hist'ry OF Ajax Thumply.
"The fact th't tn want many boys
in them times give the measles an
the hookin' cough, etcettery, the best
kind OF q chance to slosh in their best
dicks, an tn bein' so much on 'em to
spare, 'twa'n't no uncommon thing fer
'em ter visit the boys two or three
times apiece, an keep us either a
whoopin' like a painter, or swelled up
bout the Jaws like q chipmunk with
two walnuts in each chop, or broke
out like ripe pokeberries from groun'-
hog day till holler.eve. Ajax Thum.
oily seemed to be the fav'rit o all them
blessin's o'childhood an worried out
the mumps three times or both sides,
made the measles tired four different
winters, KEEP his folks awake O. nights,
an checked an ketched his breath
with q reg'lar wild Injun whoo-whoop!
SO long an so often th't the doctor
said it had set in on him to stay, an
th't nothin' less'n q good stroke o
lightnin' d cure him. But Ajax got
fat on 'em an they all gave 1t up ez a
bad job, an he come out OF all on EN-
tougher'n ever. Folks said th't tn
want nothin' left that could down
Ajax Thumply, an if tn were any n
in the settlement ez doubted it he quit
doubtin' arter what happened to Ajax
one spring in the sugar bush.
"Ajax were tappin' trees fer sap,
one spring, all alone in that part O.
the bush. He had bored n holein one
tree, an were jist n gointer to set his
elder-spile in it, wen swat! come sum-
pin agin his head, an he didn't quit
flynn through the air till he had gone
sumpin' like forty foot. Ez he struck
on the groun' he looked back an see
th't ez he were tappin' the tree a big
bar had come up ahind an tapped
him. The bar didn't wait fer Ajax
to get up, but follered him right up.
Alex didn't hev nothin' to fgth with,
so wat does he do but play off dead,
knowing th't at th't season o'the year
bars ID lug their fodder home
lore they put it inside OF 'emselfs, an,
hopin' th't sumpin' d turn up to git
him outen the scrape. The bar shifted
round Ajax q while, an. then begun
to lug him off. They hadn't gone fur,
though, wen the bar stopped an
dropped his game. Ajax opened HE
eyes a leetle by an by an wat does
he see but the cheerin' prospec' O
bein' slowed away in the ground, an
the bar were diggin' away Tor dear
life to scoop out the buryin' place. AT
this Ajax kinder lost his grit a leetle,
an he couldn't hev stirred an inch il
he'd know'd it. d save his life. The
bar want long q digging the hole, an
fore Ajax scarcely know'd 1T he were
dumped inter it an the bar were
shuckin' the dirt an stuns in on top
o. him. Ajax were poorly near hid
lore he d%iskivered th't he had hung
onter the elder Spite all that time.
The spile had n half inch hole through
1t from oneeend to to'other. The bar
had his back to Ajax iist then, shovel
in in the dirt. Quicker'n n flash
Ajax clasps one end O. the splice to
his nose, an let's the elder stick
straight upthrough the dirt, and wen
the bar got through Ajax had a reg
lar chimbley from the outside, carry
in fresh air right down to him. The
dirt bore a leetle heavy on Ajax, O.
course, but he commenced to dig it
away, KNOWN, that it were only a
question o. time wen the bar would
come back, onkiver him, ant chaw a
dinner often HIM. Ajax were jist an
l-... ...I ...onA.- r,inI.tne nittnn Antnn